Free content

This guide details the development of the free and open-source hardware revolution and provides you with
step-by-step instructions on building your own laboratory hardware.

In the first two chapters displayed here, the author defines the basic terms of open-source software and discusses the rise of the open-source hardware revolution and how it impacts science before exploring five pragmatic advantages to joining the open-source scientific community for both your research in general, and most importantly, your equipment and instrumentation.

Key Features

Numerous examples of technologies and the open-source user and developer communities that support them

Actively participate in a community in which scientific results are more easily replicated and cited

Examples

Open source scientific hardware is open source hardware used by scientists to do research or for education. This gallery and associated sub-pages are an extension of the book the Open Source Lab, which is about how to make scientific equipment following open source principles. Click on the hyperlinks under the images in this index to go to pages with hundreds of examples.

Open-source scientific hardware collections and resources

The Open-source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Research Costs

3D printed scientific equipment in Africa- “TReND in Africa” (Teaching and Research in Neuroscience for Development) is a higher education charity dedicated to improving university level science education and research in sub-Saharan Africa.

Labrigger - Labrigger is a source for open solutions for research. Their goal is to accelerate and enable research by reducing the duplication of effort by multiple labs, and offering alternatives to expensive lab equipment.

Reviews

"This is a manual that every scientist should read and it holds a message so powerful and disruptive that the Anarchist Cookbook is a fairy tale in comparison." -- 3D Printing Industry

"Open-source and 3D printing pioneer Joshua Pearce has demonstrated in numerous ways how the technology can both save researchers money and increase accessibility to lab equipment through his studies with Michigan Technological University."- Engineering.com

Review on 3D Hacker! online, November 18, 2013

“3dhacker is truly impressed by the amount of work Dr. Pearce has put into Open-Source Lab. It’s immediately clear how a teacher or researcher in any institution around the world can reduce their laboratory equipment costs by 60-90%. Additionally Dr. Pearce illustrates the benefits of open source hardware and how it’s a must if the world wants to move at the fastest pace for scientific development!” -- 3dhacker Review: Open-Source Lab

Review on Nanowerk.com, November 18, 2013

“’Open-Source Lab’ is written for a wide audience, from novices to those who are “at one with the force of open source,” who can skip the introductory material and get right to work printing their own equipment.” --Nanowerk

Review Machine Design December 4, 2013

“Pearce intends his book to be a sort of guide to creating your own open-source lab gear. The topics he covers include software rights, best practices and etiquette for using open-source hardware, open-source microcontrollers, open-source centrifuges and spectrometers, colorimeters, and even open-source laser welding. There are also some helpful hints for those who are 3D-printing their equipment for the first time.” --Machine Design

Review on Midwest January, 2014

"Pearce's examples make it abundantly clear that the more people creating and sharing their hardware designs will only help research and technology accelerate and flourish. All things considered, the Open-Source Lab is a must read for every professional and amateur scientist. Even science educators would benefit from reading it and being able to improve their teaching laboratories for their students. And while he may not cover all the issues related to social and business aspects of open-source hardware, Pearce's writing throughout the Open-Source Lab is both inspiring and instructive as he covers all the information about the new and exciting possibilities with open-source hardware and 3-D printing." -- Midwest Book Review

"This champion of the use of open source in the investigation continues his tireless work and now has compiled a series of tools that can help biologists, chemists, physicists, doctors, pharmacists and researchers and scientists in general in conducting laboratory experiments."

In the Media

Why Open Source Hardware is Important to Scientists - Interview with Allison Mills